ARLINGTON, Texas — In a World Cup boasting a galaxy of stars, a lunch-bucket team of blue-collar everymen may wind up outshining them all.

Spain clinched a berth to the final Tuesday by smothering France 2-0 at AT&T Stadium, running its unbeaten streak to 37 games while eliminating a team that had run roughshod through the tournament.

And it wasn’t even close. France came into the game with 16 goals, second only to Argentina in the tournament, then failed to put a shot on goal in the first 81 minutes.

It had Kylian Mbappé, who is tied with Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this summer and was the Golden Boot winner four years ago in Qatar. He was all but invisible until, frustrated, he felled Spanish keeper Unai Simón with a cheap shot in the final minutes, drawing a well-deserved yellow card.

France couldn’t even score into an open net, with Desire Doue lining a low shot right at a rapidly retreating Simón, who had come well off his line and left the goal unattended. For Simón, Tuesday’s clean sheet was his sixth in seven games in this tournament.

Spain will meet the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between England and reigning champion Argentina on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“Whoever comes, comes,” teenage center back Pau Cubarsí said in Spanish. “I don’t think I want any of them. Let it be God’s will. We’re going to New York and then we’ll figure out who needs to come.”

Winning with defense may not be attractive, but it’s certainly been effective. And for Spain, the approach certainly fits with its team-first mentality.

“There was some talk that our defense and goalkeeping weren’t up to par. But I think we’ve silenced a lot of critics,” Cubarsí said. “We’ve only conceded one goal and we’re in the final.

“This is a team effort, both those who play and those on the bench.”

Added right back Pedro Porro: “We’re just continuing to work with humility. We’ve been doing things right and building on our strengths. We’ve also been correcting the things we haven’t done well. We’re just taking it step by step.”

It wasn’t so much that France played poorly, although it did. It was that Spain forced it to play that way.

France had never trailed in the tournament, but it fell behind in this one on Mikel Oyarzabal’s successful penalty shot in the 22nd minute. Lucas Digne was called for the foul when he chested down an errant pass from Spain’s Marc Cucurella on the edge of the 18-yard box, then reached out his left boot to control it, only to catch the leg of Spain’s Lamine Yamal who was charging in from the blind side.

Salvadoran referee Iván Barton immediately pointed to the spot and Oyarzabal stepped up and obliged, beating French keeper Mike Maignan into the side netting at the right post for his fifth goal of the tournament. The score was the first Maignan had allowed in the knockout rounds, breaking a 360-minute scoreless streak and it would be all Spain would need to get to the final for the first time since 2010, when it won its only World Cup.

Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón makes a save in front of France’s Theo Hernandez during a World Cup semifinal in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.

(Jessica Tobias / Associated Press)

Maignan didn’t do any better on the second shot he faced, this one coming 13 minutes into the second half when Porro came in alone on the keeper, then used his right foot to flick the ball by the goalkeeper to double Spain’s lead.

“My son couldn’t come today because he’s feeling a little under the weather with a fever,” said Porro, who dedicated his goal to the boy. “It was a mix of emotions because he couldn’t be here, and then his dad scored a goal.

“I wanted to look out at the stands and the only people there were my partner, my father-in-law and my physical therapist.”

For Porro, the goal was a measure of redemption as well. There were doubters when coach Luis de la Fuente named him to the World Cup team and those critics grew louder when de la Fuente made him a starter.

But those critics fell notably silent Tuesday.

“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Porro said. “Obviously, I never imagined — not even in my wildest dreams — that I’d be playing in this World Cup the way I am.

Spain’s Pedro Porro celebrates after beating France during a World Cup semifinal Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

(Florencia Tan Jun / Getty Images)

“But it’s also thanks to my teammates, and thanks to the coach for the confidence he’s shown in me from the very beginning.”

Spain hasn’t lost a game in the knockout phase of a World Cup since 2006 — when it fell to France — playing to draws in the round of 16 in the past two tournaments before being eliminated both times on penalties. They didn’t let it come down to that this time.

“We’re in a final. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Cubarsí, 19. “Maybe I’m still too young for everything I’m going through right now. But soccer is something to be enjoyed. Opportunities will come your way if you’re willing to make sacrifices and all that.”

For French coach Didier Deschamps, meanwhile, the loss marked his penultimate game with a team he’s taken to two World Cup finals in 15 years as coach. He had earlier announced he would be stepping aside after the tournament. Instead of capping raucous Bastille Day celebrations in France with a trip to the World Cup final, Deschamps and his squad will travel to Miami to play in the third-place game.

Some players knelt at the final whistle, head down, staring at the turf.

“There’s obviously a lot of disappointment,” Deschamps said. “The players are devastated because we had high hopes. Even so, we have to be realistic and acknowledge that today we were a step behind technically against a team that played very well.

“It’s our fault, first and foremost.”

Well, not really. The credit should go to Spain.

The United States Men’s National Team had all the momentum when Folarin Balogun’s red card from the Round of 32 was suspended, giving him a chance to play in the Round of 16 — at least, that’s what American soccer fans thought.

The day before the USMNT’s Round of 16 game against Belgium, which Balogun was originally supposed to miss because of a red card in the previous game, FIFA ruled that he would be eligible.

The ruling added to what was already a huge controversy, as it was argued Balogun should not have been red-carded in the first place. Nonetheless, Balogun was active despite an appeal and strong reaction from Belgium.

However, it was hardly a needle-mover, as Belgium embarrassed the Stars and Stripes with a 4-1 win. If anything, the needle might have moved the wrong way, Balogun himself said.

“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it is something that is so unique,” Balogun told CBS on Tuesday.

“The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid.”

Balogun said the entire situation was “confusing,” as the team was initially practicing without him. But the team found out on the bus to practice that Balogun would be active.

“Everybody was screaming and shouting,” Balogun said.

BELGIUM MANAGER PRAISES CLASSY GESTURE BY FOLARIN BALOGUN AFTER RED CARD CONTROVERSY: ‘I REALLY LIKED THAT’

But that did not change the whirlwind of emotions, which may or may not have contributed to the loss.

“It’s more just being able to separate the emotion from the job at hand. We’re all professionals, so it’s not something I think was too difficult to be able to separate once we got over the initial announcement. You saw it was a difficult game against Belgium and that can kind of overshadow whether we were focused or not. From me being inside the camp and inside the setup, I know we had full concentration going into the game,” he said.

President Donald Trump admitted to calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the red card.

“All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.

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“I think it’s a terrible… if they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. I relayed it. I didn’t tell him what to do. I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because, No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”

Belgium was knocked out by Spain in the quarterfinals, and Spain will face France in the first semifinal match Tuesday in Atlanta.

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A day after general manager Raegan Pebley was fired, the Sparks were in Atlanta and seemingly still focused on trying to reach the playoffs this year.

The suggestion that Pebley’s removal was a sign that the team is performing poorly didn’t sit well with coach Lynne Roberts.

“I don’t think we underachieved last year and this year is still going,” Roberts said in Atlanta on Monday before the team’s loss to the Dream. “For where we want to get, that’s not where we want to be, but we tripled our win total in my first year — that’s not underachieving. We haven’t hit our stride, we’ve been injured all year. Hopefully we get [Kelsey Plum] and Cam [Brink] back. Our system is designed around KP. I’m not close to thinking we are underachieving.”

Pebley and the rest of the Sparks’ organization signaled a clear intention to compete this season, signing veterans Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler in the offseason, signing Dearica Hamby to a three-year deal and trading for Ariel Atkins.

They are still in the playoff race midway through the season, but have the second-worst defensive rating in the WNBA and sit a game below the postseason cutoff line.

They have competed without Plum, their top scorer, for 12 games and former No. 2 overall pick Brink during the past nine contests.

But even with their struggles, culminating in an 82-64 loss to Seattle on July 6, the Sparks responded well with consecutive home wins against Indiana and Chicago. After those games, Roberts seemed to think the team was moving in the right direction, but team owners made a major change.

The Sparks have a decision to make about how hard they want to push the rest of this season as the team flirts with missing the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. With the trade deadline on Aug. 2, they could make some moves to improve this season or sell off their veteran assets and attempt to rebuild again.

The Sparks haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 and have made some controversial moves while trying to snap out of the slump.

In addition to the questionable trade of 2024 fourth overall pick Rickea Jackson to Chicago for veteran Atkins this offseason, Pebley traded the picks that would become Storm post duo Awa Fam and Dominique Malonga for Plum and Kia Nurse. In her sole season with the Sparks, Nurse averaged 7.6 points per game.

Pebley also traded the No. 8 pick in 2024 (that later was used to draft Alissa Pili) to Chicago for Julie Allemand and Li Yueru, then lost Allemand in the expansion draft. Yueru was sent to Seattle in the Plum trade and is now playing with Dallas. The Sparks’ 2025 first-round draft pick Sarah Ashlee Barker was left unprotected and went to Portland in the expansion draft.

The Sparks waived their top pick in this year’s draft, Ta’Niya Latson, after barely playing, and she has gone on to join Las Vegas. Sania Feagin, a 2025 first-round draft pick, was waived and signed with Portland.

Most of those moves, though, came after the Sparks lost the top spot in the 2025 draft lottery to Dallas, which selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick. Before the lottery result, it seemed like the Sparks — who went 8-32 in 2024 before that draft — were lining up for a youth movement led by Brink and Bueckers. A lineup of those three, a healthy Feagin, Barker and Allemand would be an entirely different kind of team.

Once that failed, they focused on adding veterans who could win now and have only managed modest improvement.

The Sparks have their next two first-round draft picks and four players still on rookie contracts after this season (Brink, Chance Gray, Kate Martin and Pili). Brink is their lone lottery pick left from their disappointing past six seasons. (Pili was a top-10 pick, but she has struggled to stay on a WNBA roster and just signed a player developmental contract with the Sparks this month.)

Pebley told The Times in an interview on Friday that she was open to making moves to compete at the deadline this year.

Players on the Sparks’ bench celebrate during a win over the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

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“We are in a space where we are here to win,” she said. “This is a city that wants to win. We have an ownership that wants to win. You see what they’re doing with the Lakers. You see what they’ve done already with the Dodgers. … We have to always continue to invest in the roster. We have a responsibility to always listen and be aware of what’s out there.”

A league source not authorized to discuss trade conversations publicly told The Times that Pebley had been aggressive ahead of the deadline, and now teams are unsure what approach the Sparks will take moving forward.

“I found out when everybody else did,” Roberts said of Pebley’s firing. “It was a surprise. She’s a good friend of mine. I think the tone is set that we need to keep building and get the Sparks back to where they have been. That’s been the tone. Raegan did some great things for our org in that regard and improved a lot of things. That work can’t go undenied. It’s full-steam ahead and I’m focused on what I can do.”

It would be difficult to move some of their heftier contracts, especially since WNBA teams cannot take on more salary than their remaining cap space allows in a trade. Hamby, 32, is signed for two more years for more than $1 million per season. Atkins is also signed for two years at $1 million-plus and is having a career-worst offensive season, shooting 36.4% with 8.7 points per game.

Wheeler, 35, has another year left on her deal, but a $625,000 cap hit for a player who would be a backup point guard on most teams is a tough sell.

Plum and Ogwumike are on expiring deals, and the Sparks’ most valuable roster asset, Rae Burrell, is a restricted free agent, but one of the few young players left on the Sparks’ roster.

The Sparks have a limited $86,000 in cap space, too, so if they decide they want to buy at the deadline, they have to find a way to clear space.

They enter the trade deadline period in a difficult spot as a team in purgatory that just fired its general manager.

Yet what they decide to do in the next month might be the most clearest sign of their ambition and hope for the future.